Voyager
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3 Messages
Microcell with Fixed Wireless Internet Service?
Hi everyone,
I have a big problem I'm hopeful someone will be able to help me with.
For years with AT&T, we have never had cell phone service in our house. The local AT&T store was very good about agreeing to provide a microcell/femtocell to solve the problem, which got me quite excited! 😉
Unfortunately, when it came time to set it up, nothing worked. I called AT&T and they informed me that the microcell will not work with my ISP (Digis), which uses fixed wireless to provide the service. A Digis representative tonight confirmed that he knows of no way to get the two to work together.
I was surprised, however, when he came back and said that he knows that T-Mobile and Verizon customers have been able to get similar setups (with femtocells, I assume) to work.
I have been happy with AT&T otherwise and prefer not to switch. I told the man at the AT&T store that I would stay with AT&T if they gave me the free microcell, which was only reasonable. That was assuming, however, that it would solve my problem. Now I'm reconsidering.
Of course, if I were to switch to T-Mobile I wouldn't need a femtocell; my next-door neighbor gets good reception inside.
If I do switch, of course I will return the microcell, but I would still prefer to say. Does anyone know of a way that I can get this to work?
Thanks.
OttoPylot
ACE - Expert
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21.8K Messages
9 years ago
Unfortunately the MicroCell is designed for land-based internet connectivity. AT&T does not support satellite and/or wireless connections. Some have been marginally successful with those connections but it is not reliable. The reason being is that jitter and lag are just too variable to maintain a stable 24/7 VPN connection to the AT&T mobility servers. There's nothing that can be done about that. It's all on the ISP end.
If T-Mobile has a strong reliable signal in your area then you won't need to use a femtocell. I don't know if T-Mobile offers a femtocell or not. I know Verizon does, as well as offering their own VoIP service. However, there have been issues using AT&T cellular service over the Verizon network.
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Avedis53
Professor
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2.2K Messages
9 years ago
There have been instances where femtocells have worked with a wireless ISP service but they are the exception rather than the rule. The inherent shortcomings of wireless internet (latency, jitter, bandwidth) do not play well with VOIP femtocells.
T-Mobile takes a different approach to providing cellphone coverage in marginal areas than AT&T, Verizon or Sprint do. They use WiFi (their WiFi Calling service) instead of a femtocell to provide cellphone coverage in a home that has poor tower reception. You would need to have a T-Mobile cellphone that supports WiFi Calling (most all the new ones do). However, in your case I would think that you would have the same problem with the wireless internet ISP regarding the above-mentioned shortcomings.
So to answer your question, I don't believe there is a way to make a Mcell work with AT&T(or Verizon and Sprint) given your wireless internet connection. If T-Mobile service is decent enough in your home that you won't need to use their WiFi Calling feature, then your best bet is to switch to T-Mobile.
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OttoPylot
ACE - Expert
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21.8K Messages
9 years ago
I agree.
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